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The Western Force have begun a worldwide search for a new playmaker after being given dispensation to recruit a new marquee player to replace injured former Springbok Andre Pretorius.
And 2006 Force player of the year Scott Staniforth is back in Perth from Japan and may be re-signed to replace the injured Cameron Shepherd.
The club has already spoken with former Force foundation member James Hilgendorf.
The 27-year-old fly-half spent three years with the Force before moving to Japanese club Kobe and would be keen to return to Perth as Pretorius takes up a contract with Kobe next season.
Hilgendorf, who spent his last season on the Force injury list, made 15 appearances in his first two seasons.
He is best known for being on the end of a tackle by Blue Rua Tipoki in 2006 that left him with a fractured eye socket and almost ended his career.
Another ex-Force foundation member, Scott Daruda, 24, who recently quit Agen in France because of lack of game time and homesickness, is not on the Force radar.
The Force received permission from the ARU's high performance manager, David Nucifora, to recruit another overseas Test player because Pretorius is out for the season after tearing his left hamstring from the bone.
ARU rules allow a club to recruit one overseas marquee player and a development player who would become available for Wallabies selection.
"The ARU has given us the OK to go for another overseas player, replacing like with like," Force rugby manager Mitch Hardy said.
"They were very reasonable in discussions. We have spoken with several players and hope to hear back from them soon."
He said any recruit would not be available for Saturday's clash with the Hurricanes in Wellington, but he was hopeful of having a player signed for the round-three clash against the Waikato Chiefs at ME Bank Stadium.
"It would be a very long shot to have a new player available for Saturday, but we'll find a solution for that game," Hardy said.
The loss of Pretorius and a neck injury to second-string fly-half Mark Bartholomeusz that is likely to rule him out for a month, forced the experiment of playing centre Sam Harris in the playmaker's role in the 24-15 loss to the ACT Brumbies on Friday night.
To add the their woes, No. 8 Richard Brown may need a right shoulder reconstruction after dislocating it against the Brumbies.
Shepherd looks like being out for at least a month with a hip injury, prop Matt Dunning suffered mild concussion and winger Haig Sare, a late inclusion in Friday's line-up, is still being treated for an Achilles problem.
http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/spo...for-playmaker/
"Remember lads, rugby is a team game; all 14 of you make sure you pass the ball to ..........."
Do it Stanners, come home Jimmy, we all still love yah!!!
"Bloody oath we did!"
Nathan Sharpe, Legend.
Im not a religious bloke but im praying for the jimmy/spanners signings to come true.....please join me in my communion with the bloke upstairs.
Gee having stanners back would be great. Hilgy was reliable and much better then anything we currently have even if they use him at 15 with stanners at 12 and JO'C at 10.
Can we have a count down timer put on the return of some of our injured players? Trying to keep up with who is in and out and when likely to return is really difficult!
Generally speaking you aren’t learning much if your lips are moving!!!
Jimmy was in ACT on "holidays" when we beat Brumbies last year, I think he even took part in the Rednecks v Teddybears on that occasion. He was also in Perth later in the year. He's never really "left" the
My mail has Spanner penciled in for Chiefs match![]()
80 Minutes, 15 Positions, No Protection, Wanna Ruck?
Ruck Me, Maul Me, Make Me Scrum!
Education is Important, but Rugby is Importanter!
Woot woot!!!
Good stuff TIF, I just did a little jig around the room...ok, I didn't even stand up, but I am excited to hear it![]()
"Bloody oath we did!"
Nathan Sharpe, Legend.
From the depths of despair I can see a faint light shining.....![]()
I'll have to get my Mum to have a word with Him, she's got a direct line or she should have with all the time she spends on Church activities! Hope there is better news for Browny, a reconstruction would put him out for the season as well
A Hilgy/spanners pairing/signing would be a fantastic development. I thought the "star" signings put paid to what could have developed into a great partnership. I think we could have developed a star team under those circumstances rather than a team of "stars". Unfortunately it wasn't nurtured enough... they are my two favourite "team" players for the Force and I think they would add a lot to the culture as well... I think we should be focusing much more on creating a positive team culture within the club. We seem to have been able to bring to light some new wallabies - well have have to also back youngsters at the super 14 level rather than going for the star signings. With the Rebels coming on board next year there is even more urgency - otherwise we'll lose a whole lot to melbourne next year....
Thats the beauty though! Sure there might be the odd clause or two here or there but our players off contract this year are:
Sam Harris
Stefano Hunt
Luke Jones
Chris O'Young
David Pocock
Cameron Shepherd
Mark Swanepoel
And I have no information regarding (although I find it very unlikely the latter three would leave):
Josh Tatupu
DHP
Kieran Longbottom
Ryan Tyrrell
The only player who we could lose which would cut us to bits would be Pocock. Shepherd is great but this recent injury is putting question marks above him and if he stays I'd be delighted but if he goes well its one less injury concern. If we could make some tasty recruitments this year (Hilgy for one) we should be really strong for 2011 and make us less vulnerable when 80% of our players are contract.
Credit to John Mitchell and the Force team- we are practically immune to the first big raid Melbourne will make. Why else do you think the Brumbies and Tahs are packing it?
Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast.
I think we really want to keep Stef and Jones
A week ago I was DESPERATE to keep Shep, I still think he's an awesome player, but he's turning into Lachie McKay.......he needs to sort his legs out or he just has to go!
Harris is probably bench cover of the 12,
Swanepoel.......haven't seen enough of him to comment
Chrisso, I could take or leave
Tatupu is a bit hot n cold
DHP Longbottom and Tyrrell are all local boys
In short, there are probably a couple of names there I'd really want to keep, Particularly with a long term view, but in the short term Bam's the only one.....
I think we've got a lot to offer him, captaincy is guaranteed if he stays, he's got a brother in the program, so family's sorted......More africans in Perth than Melbourne (AFAIK, it might have changed since I left) and the opportunity to throw insane amounts of money at him since Giteau Valentine and Mitchell have left.
C'mon the![]()
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